Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Jiang Yanze is an artist, designer, craftsperson
and academic. Born in 1975 in the Jiang Su Province, she has capitalized on her
creative talents and knowledge of ceramics; ceramic traditions, techniques and
processes, including the inherent expressive opportunities the diverse medium
of ceramics has to offer, to become one of China’s leading ceramic artists.

Mastering her craft the BFA and MFA route at the Nanjing Arts Institute and
Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute respectively, she endeavours to work outside of
the traditional constraints often imposed by the medium. She is presently
registered for her PHD at the Nanjing Arts Institute, where she lectures in
ceramics. An Associate professor, she also holds the position of Executive
director at the Yanze Ceramics international Design Centre.

Providing this biographical information offers
useful information, and or a context to the conceptual framework in which Jiang
formulates her ceramic statements. Work that is conceived with a sharp
understanding of the processes and techniques and methods associated with the
medium; a scholarly academic approach, born out of the formulation of project
briefs and or the outcomes associated with the teaching and learning ceramic programmes
at tertiary institutions (ceramics discourse).

Reading in between the lines,
these ceramic statements function on many levels, the most important of which
is imbedded in the shaping of the clay, albeit positive and or negative forms
and shapes. However these works are not
stayed boring statements often associated with serious academically produced
works, Jiang approaches her subject with playfulness, imbued with humour and
when required a serious traditional ritual meaning, to produce rock-solid,
boundary breaking contemporary ceramic statements.

I first encountered Jiang’s work at the 2014
Taiwan Ceramic Biennale, incorporated into the Global Identities section of
Wendy Gers’ curated exhibition titled, Terra-Nova: Critical Currents/contemporary Ceramics. What struck me as unusual about
her work was the way in which the obviousness of the ceramic process presented
new and exciting contemporary ceramic insights. The work is sophisticated and
simple and yet deeply rooted in ancient Chinese ceramic traditions and rituals.
Mindful of the various levels on which these ceramic statements function, one
realizes how much deliberation was necessary in the conceptualization and
realization of these uniquely useful, desirable and in some cases usable
ceramic statements.

There is a logical progression in the various
works Jiang presented at the Taiwan Ceramic Biennale. Various components,
including the figurative element is animated in dramatic slip cast fashion, in
various spacial compositions and positions, exploiting everyday rituals such as
the traditional Chinese tea culture in the context of global consumption and
consumerism.

In her own words, Jiang states, ‘ The completion
of a good porcelain piece relies not only on complicated processes and
exquisite techniques, but also on the potter’s ability to convey the material’s
internal life. Only then will the piece be full of freshness and spirit’
(Jiang; 2012).

Francesco Ardini from Italy chatting with Jiang at the
Yingge museum Cafeteria.

What follows are extracts in the artists words,
as transcribed in the Handbook of the 2014 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, describing
Jiang’s creative intent in producing the work for the curated exhibition tiled,
Ceramics NOW: Art, Design and Digital
Materialities, held at the Yingge Museum.

It is appropriate that this series is the first
work that one sees when entering Exhibition Hall 304, as it serves as an
introduction to some of the key issues of this Glocal Identities section. The
artist is fascinated with the beauty of industrial processes, in particular the
slip-casting of everyday utilitarian wares. Jiang notes that while we perceive
everyday ceramics as positive forms, each of them is cast from a mold, which
constitutes the negative form.1 Her series 'Useful & Useless－2' contains both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels and works that
reference their moulds. These moulds have been transformed into sculptures that
evoke the positive / negative binary relationship.

Many objects
used in our daily lives are produced through casting moulds. We see them as a
positive form, but in fact, each of them is casted from a mould, a negative
form. My work Useful &Useless not only emphasizes on the personalized
vessels, but also transforms some parts of the moulds to be an independent form
to express the beauty of rationality of industrial products.

In 'Useful
& Useless－2' (image above) Jiang places the sculptural
mould and vessel in an intimate relationship. The positive and negative spaces
between the objects echo the central concern of the work and amplify the
tension of the relationships between the individual elements. This deliberate
mise en abyme2 is an exploration of the relationship between the 'mould' and
the 'moulded.' In symbolic terms, the series may be seen to be a reflection on
contemporary culture in China. The dense social matrix of Chinese culture is
being rapidly moulded and transformed by rampant capitalist development and the
adoption of a consumer life-style. The work encourages us to ask, what is
useful and what is useless in this collective maelstrom.

1. Jiang, Y.
(2014) 'Useful & Useless', TCB Handbook, p.49. 2. The French term mise en
abyme does not have an exact English equivalent, but refers to the process
whereby an oeuvre is represented within another work of the same type, or
within itself, for example by encrusting the same image. A loose translation is
'mirror effect'.

The Tea Tray series originates from
traditional Chinese tea culture. Putting a series of human figure teapots,
jugs, and cups together on a big tray conveys the meaning of gathering and
communication between people, which is deeply embedded in Chinese tea culture.

The 'Tea Tray'
series is a contemporary exploration of the social aspect of traditional
Chinese tea culture. Placing a series of anthropomorphic tea ware onto a large
tea tray is a symbolic gesture that conveys the meaning of this ritualized form
of interpersonal communication. Jiang's works are both spontaneous and
contrived. Her installation seeks to transmit our human desire to reconcile our
increasingly frenetic lives with revitalizing moments of calm replenishment.

From 2003, I
started to make some functional objects, such as teapots and vases, hoping that
people can use my work and at the same time appreciate them in their daily
lives. In addition, I wanted these pieces to carry their own personalities and
to be able to speak by themselves. Inspired by all kinds of different human
gestures in ancient Chinese rituals. I often utilized human figures as subject.

The artist-designer has been creating functional
wares, such as teapots and vases, for over a decade. Jiang explained that she
'wanted these pieces to carry their own personalities and to be able to speak
by themselves.'1 Hence she often uses human figures as her primary subject. This series is inspired by various different
human gestures observed in ancient Chinese rituals. The work may be viewed as a
mischievous and subversive reflection on the relationship between the human
body and the vessel and questions of social etiquette – which extend from the
home and regulate broader social transactions.

“
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” is a
traditional saying that has become a wedding custom for brides, and it can also
be used to properly describe the ceramic work of Jiang Yanze, writes Yuan
Xiyang in in the preface to Yanze’s catalogue for her ceramic art & design
exhibition catalogue. The exhibition was held at the twocities gallery in 2012 - images below..

Beijing Cloth series. Bonechina 2012.

‘Ms Jiang’s works
follow the pulse of the tradition, and yet free themselves from tethers of the
past. She knows how to read and reconstruct traditional relics. For her, ceramic
art is not only a result of skilled technique and artistic form but also of
articulated reflection upon production method, life concept, philosophical
truths and cultural patterns. Her collection of work mediates on the
dialectical relationship between model and mould, positive and negative,
functionality versus uselessness, and bulk copies versus the singular
object.

The most thought provoking topic
in her works, however, is an examination of Chinese ritual and life
consciousness. The normal daily objects, such as cups, dishes and teapots, tell
stories of kings and subjects, life and death, rejoicing and weeping. In her
hands, each vessel has its own history, clan, emotion and dignity’ (Xiyang:
2012)

Title image: Ceramic installation with projected animation titled, and the ship sails on. In celebration of the Chinese year of the dragon. Follow link to view video on You Tube.EUGENE HŐN : CERAMIC ARTISTThe purpose of this blog is to inform you of the creative thinking behind my ceramic statements.I will therefore provide reference material to facilitate greater interaction with you in the development of ceramic concepts. The expressed views and posted comments are intended to illustrate how the ceramic statements act as a vehicle for an expanding discourseon relevant art, design and craft issues.

About Me

I am a ceramic artist with a passion for drawing. My ceramic statements are a creative response to the literary sources I choose to read. I am also an academic, recently appointed Director of the FADA Gallery at the University of Johannesburg. I am an artist that celebrates the handmade, with strong concepts and meaning that straddles the disciplines of ceramics, sculpture, drawing, artist’s books, digital printing, animation, video or digital projection Installation and ultimately design.